Administrative units

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed Directive No.30/CT-TTg on October 30 for improving the quality of administrative procedures at ministries, branches and localities. Accordingly, the directive requires that ministers, heads of the ministerial-level agencies, heads of the agencies attached to the Government, chairman of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government and the heads of public administrative units and organisations, direct the implementation of administrative reform, the handling of public administrative procedures, and the application of information technology to serve the construction of e-government and e-government within the ministries, branches and localities. They are also required to promptly promulgate the implementation plan of the Government Decree 61/2018/NĐ-CP dated April 23, 2018, to launch one-door and connected one-door mechanisms in processing administrative procedures with tasks assigned by Decision No. … [Read more...] about Improving quality of administrative procedures

Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — Any rearrangement of administrative units such as merging of communes and districts must be voted on by citizens in those areas to be valid, Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hoà Bình said. He was speaking at Thursday national conference held by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to seek feedback on a draft project which would see a major overhaul of local administrative units by 2030. The project is one of the latest attempts by the Government to streamline its bloated bureaucracy, reduce the number of workers on a constrained public payroll and improve efficiency. According to Lê Vĩnh Tân, Minister of Home Affairs, from 1986-2016, the number of districts in Việt Nam nearly doubled, from 413 to 713, while the number of communes rose from 9,657 to 11,162. However, currently, 36.33 per cent, or 259 districts, of the country’s total, and 6,191 communes (55.46 per cent) do not meet one of the two … [Read more...] about Rearrangement of local administrative units must reflect people’s will: Deputy PM

Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Thị Hoàn, 60, is happy that her life and the lives of local residents in her commune has gradually improved over the last 10 years after the neighbouring province of Hà Tây was merged into Hà Nội and became a part of the capital city. Hoàn, from Cộng Hòa Commune, in old Hà Tây Province, said that her commune had previously faced many challenges. Roads were degraded, and classrooms lacked the necessary teaching supplies and infrastructure. Local residents had to use water from wells for their daily lives, she said. “After being merged to Hà Nội, authorities at different levels started to pay more attention and invest in building new roads and upgrading schools,” she said. Thanks to the renewed attention, Cộng Hòa Commune was recognised as a new-style rural area last year. Even better, Hoàn said, was that at the beginning of this … [Read more...] about Hà Nội celebrates 10 years of administrative boundary adjustment

Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan suggested the Prime Minister assign administrative units to reduce personnel by 2 percent per year during a teleconference between the Government and localities on July 2. As they only streamlined 4.8 percent of staff in the past four year so in the next three years, it is necessary to cut down personnel by at least1.8 percent each year to achieve a 10 percent reduction goal in accordance with the Politburo’s Resolution No. 39, he said. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) will assign personnel quota to ministries, agencies, and localities on July 20, said Tan, adding that the PM should soon issue a decree on amendments and supplements to Decree No.108 on personnel streamline policy. He asked relevant ministries, agencies, and localities to promptly report to the MoHA so that it could offer advice to the Government to deal with the against-regulation personnel appointment, … [Read more...] about Public administrative units must reduce personnel by 2 percent annually

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (second from right) attended an online conferencereviewing Party building work in 2017 and deploying tasks of 2018. (Photo: VNA) With high political resolve, Resolution 18-NQ/TW adopted by the 6th plenum of the 12th CPV Central Committee emphasized streamlining personnel in combination with re-organizing, improving the quality of, and effectively using the contingent of officials, public servants and civil workers; cutting regular spending and contributing to reforming salary policies. To carry out the resolution along with related plans and resolutions of the CPV Politburo and the National Assembly, the Government issued a resolution on a Plan of Action on February 3rd, 2018, urging drastic and urgent actions. Under the resolution, the Government requires ministries, ministry-level agencies and Government agencies to review, re-arrange and streamline their apparatus, cut the numbers of general departments, departments, sections and … [Read more...] about State administrative apparatus needs reform for better efficiency

HCM CITY – HCM City plans to improve its administrative procedures by using smartphone apps for tracking citizens’ submissions and forming working groups, according to Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, deputy chairman of HCM City People’s Committee. In a meeting on improving administrative procedures held on Tuesday (Jan 9), Tuyến said the city should focus on developing apps that could help people and businesses keep track of procedures more easily, as opposed to relying on the government website and other traditional means. In a related matter, the city has formed interdisciplinary working groups to deal with investment proposals and projects more efficiently. The meeting reviewed administrative reform in 2017 and its accomplishments, such as speeding up procedures for services like business registration and building certificates in addition to the use of more electronic documents rather than paper, which has saved the city billions of đồng. Several … [Read more...] about HCM City continues administrative reforms

All administrative units of Ho Chi Minh City need to build applications (apps) so that local people could access information via their smart devices, said Tran Vinh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee. Workers at the HCM City's Department of Industry and Trade handle administrative procedures for local peopleTuyen made the request during a conference held on January 9 to roll out administrative reform tasks in HCM City in 2018.Information on administrative procedures should be provided to people in a new and prompt manner, in line with the current trend of technology advances, he said, adding that agencies should work to introduce administrative procedures via apps on smart devices.Tuyen told participants that in 2017, about 92 percent of HCM City’s agencies met the government’s requirements to devise administrative management plans and the city aims to have all agencies met the requirements this year.Local authorities will focus on implementing … [Read more...] about HCM City plans to build smart apps for administrative procedures

The European political year, grinding back into gear for 2018, is full of doubt, even woe. In the continent’s major countries politics are stuck, or likely to stick, in cul-de-sacs from which exit is difficult. Only in France, under the banner not so much of the tricolor as the injunction En Marche! (Let’s Go!), is there official optimism and vigor. Germany, Europe’s leading economy, has yet to agree on a government. Talks between the governing Christian Democrats and the opposition Social Democrats on the formation of a third coalition are due to start on Jan. 7. A coalition agreement may take a long time – and even if successful, the marriage will be even more loveless, and thus more fragile, than the two preceding. Yet Germany remains strong in its economy and forecasts are bullish for this year, its businesses apparently insouciant about the politicians’ dilemmas. By contrast, Italy’s growth, up a little from the stagnation of recent years, … [Read more...] about There’s a better way to unite Europe

NDO/VNA – The Public Administrative Centre in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue was officially put into operation on January 5.According to Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Cao, the centre has been established to realise the Government’s targets of building a transparent, strong and united government that will take drastic and effective actions and do its utmost to serve the people.The centre, which is located at No.1 Le Lai Street, Vinh Ninh ward, Hue city, will receive documents and give back results related to 1,401 administrative procedures as well as provide procedure guidance for organisations and individuals.The centre handled some 200 documents on its first day of operation.In the past few years, the province has made efforts to renovate its administrative procedures, which has helped to create a favourable business environment to lure more investment. It now takes only three days for new businesses to complete their registration … [Read more...] about Thua Thien-Hue opens public administrative centre

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday reversed official policy that had tolerated the growing state-based movement to legalize marijuana sales, just three days after California formally permitted recreational use of the drug. Announcing a "return to the rule of law," Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded five key memos issued by the administration of president Barack Obama that discouraged enforcement of federal laws, which still classify marijuana as a dangerous narcotic like heroin. That reversed the election campaign stance by President Donald Trump favoring state marijuana laws, and set up a potential clash with the six U.S. states that have already moved ahead to legalize pot sales. Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Alaska and California have legalized sales, while Massachusetts is planning to do so this year, and legalization is under debate in Maine. "It is the mission of the Department of Justice to enforce the laws of the United States, and the previous issuance of … [Read more...] about Trump administration toughens stance on recreational marijuana